Katsushika Hokusai was an ukiyo-e artist, whose wood block prints influenced, Vincent van Gogh and other French impressionists. Ukiyo-e is a type of Japanese woodblock print (or woodcut) which were very popular in the Edo Period (1603-1867). Hokusai was the leading Ukiyo-e artist of that time with his undisputed ability for painting and designing. Hokusai created a huge number of Ukiyo-e. Among them are Thirty-six views of Mt. Fuji which was a series of landscape focusing on Mt. Fuji viewed from different places in Japan and, perhaps most well know, the great wave.

In 1976, Hokusaikan Museum was opened in Obuse where Hokusai made a long stay in his later years. The museum houses and exhibits his works centered on the ones painted by hand as well as 2 festival floats which have Hokusai’s painting on the ceiling.

Entrance is 500 yen and the museum is a short walk from Obuse station on the Nagano dentetsu line.